Phillies Star Slugger Joins Aaron Judge With Impressive Power Feat

The Philadelphia Phillies have started to come alive over the last two weeks since Don Mattingly took over as interim manager from Rob Thomson, who was fired 28 games into the season with a 9-19 record.

It has proven to be the right decision, with the team’s performance starting to pick up. The schedule softening has certainly helped, but with how the Phillies looked under Thomson, no opponent could be underestimated.

Several players have started to perform at a higher level since the change, with one of the standouts being designated hitter Kyle Schwarber. His power stroke has returned recently, helping him accomplish something only New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge has done over the last few years.

Schwarber launched two home runs in the series finale against the Colorado Rockies, giving him 16 on the season through 41 games played. He is tied with Judge for the most long balls in the MLB this year.

Kyle Schwarber accomplishes power feat only done by Aaron Judge recently

That makes the Philadelphia slugger the only player other than Judge to hit 16+ home runs through their first 41 games of the season in the last five years. The Yankees’ star outfielder also accomplished the feat in 2022.

Schwarber has been on a hot streak when it comes to hitting home runs. He has recorded at least one long ball in four consecutive games, hitting five total.

Since the managerial change was made, the designated hitter has been scorching hot at the plate. Across 13 games and 59 plate appearances, he has produced a .288/.373/.750 slash line with seven home runs and three doubles.

A true three-outcome player, Schwarber has struck out an eye-popping 19 times during that stretch for a 32.2% strikeout rate, while also drawing seven walks, which comes out to a walk rate of 11.9%.

Judge isn’t the only New York legend that Schwarber has joined in accomplishing rare feats during this torrid stretch. The home run he hit on April 30 in the first game of the doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants gave him 350 in his career.

He reached the 350-home run plateau faster than Babe Ruth did during his remarkable career. In the second game of the doubleheader, Schwarber went deep again and added two doubles while going 4-for-4 at the plate.

It was the most productive day at the plate for any player since Lou Gehrig also dominated a doubleheader with the Yankees in 1935.

That will certainly help improve the season-long numbers that were lagging for Schwarber out of the gate, but now more closely resemble the kind of production the franchise has come to expect from him.

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